What

On 6th February 2009 I will be 40 years old.

To celebrate this I would like to invite my friends to join me for a weekend in the countryside.

We have room for 36 people, read on to see if you would like to join me and to book your place.

Where

The venue is The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Machynlleth, Powys, Wales, SY20 9AZ.

Here's a map.

Approximate travelling times by car:

• Birmingham: 2 hours 15 min
• Manchester: 2 hours 30 min
• Rugby: 2 hours 50 min
• Bristol: 3 hours 10 min
• York: 3 hours 40 min
• Cambridge: 3 hours 55 min
• Exeter: 4 hours 15 min
• London: 4 hours 20 min

They have two eco-cabins which are off-grid environmentally-friendly accommodation blocks. Each sleeps 18 people, so we can accommodate 36 people in total.

Here are some pictures of the cabins (click for a larger view):

As part of the accommodation we get free entry to CAT (normally £8.40 per adult, £4.20 per child).

There are loads of things to see there: here's a video they've made explaining the educational side of the centre (and including a brief glimpse of the eco-cabins too): Windows Media video or Quicktime video

A few notes about the cabins:

• Accommodation is in bunk beds, with 4 to a room (so families should get a room to themselves)
• They supply a pillow and duvet, but you must bring a sheet, pillow case and duvet cover. If you don't they'll charge you £4.50 to hire a set! They discourage people from bringing sleeping bags.
• There is a small self-catering kitchen in each cabin
• There is no fridge!
• The cabins are heated
• Electricity is supplied from batteries charged by renewable sources, and topped up by a diesel generator if necessary. The total supply to each cabin is therefore only 400 watts. No high power applicances will work there, although low-power ones such as mobile phone chargers are ok.
• It's dark at night outside, so you might want to bring a torch
• It's February and in the countryside, so bring suitable shoes
• No outdoor shoes are allowed in the cabins, so you might want to bring slippers or indoor shoes

There is a vegetarian cafe on site open from 10am to 4pm. On the Saturday night the cafe will be open just for us from 6pm till 7pm for an evening meal; if you want to join us this is £8 per head for a three course set meal.

Also on the Saturday night, we have a function room available until 11pm for a party.

When

The plan is:

• Fri 6 Feb, 2pm onwards: arrive and settle in
• Fri 6 Feb, supper: bring your own food
• Fri 6 Feb, evening: meet people and have a few drinks
• Sat 7 Feb, daytime: look round the CAT exhibits or explore the area
• Sat 7 Feb, 6pm-7pm: group meal in the cafe
• Sat 7 Feb, 7pm onwards: have a party
• Sun 8 Feb, by 10am: clear up and vacate the cabins
• Sun 8 Feb, daytime: look round the CAT exhibits or explore the area
• Sun 8 Feb, afternoon/evening: return home

How much

The accommodation will cost £32 per adult for the whole weekend. Accompanied children are free.

If you want to join in the evening meal on the Saturday night it will be £8 per person. This is for a 3 course vegetarian meal with a glass of wine or a soft drink. They can do vegan meals on request.

For Saturday/Sunday breakfasts I am intending to buy various cereals, bread, spreads, tea, coffee, juice, etc to share, with people contributing to the cost - I'm imagining this would be something like 3 or 4 quid a head for the weekend.

For Saturday/Sunday lunch, do your own thing, either at the CAT cafe, or wander in to the local town, or maybe you'll be off exploring the local area?

If you don't fancy joining in with the breakfasts or Saturday evening meal, feel free to bring your own stuff instead and make use of the kitchens in the cabins.

But note that the cabins do not have fridges! However there is a balcony and it will be February, so we should be able to keep stuff relatively cool provided we protect it from wildlife.

RSVP

Now all this sounds great, but we're limited to about 36 people.

We have an opportunity for a few 'overflow' people to stay off site at the many local B&B's and hostels. If you do, then you can still join in with the Saturday evening meal and party, but for a daytime visit to CAT you'd have to pay the entrance fee. The size of the function room still limits us to about 45 people though.

My inital research suggests that we might have more people interested in coming than we have spaces, so I've tried to come up with a fair way of reserving places.

I don't like 'first come first served' as a principle here, and I don't really want to have to choose between potential guests myself. So I've come up with a novel approach - you tell me how much you'd like to come, and then I'll collate the list and choose the 36 people who most want to be there!

So please either RSVP with this form, or email me at:

40t

h@richar

dloxley.com

I'll keep the form open for a couple of weeks and then collate the results, so make sure you respond by Sunday 9 November if you want to come.

Your name(s):

Email address:

How many adults (at £32 for the weekend):

How many children (FREE for the weekend):

How much do you want to come?
You can use a scale of 1 to 10 if you like, or put it into words, e.g. from 'only if you pay me' through to 'try to keep me away!!! OMG LOL!!>:->'

Do you want to join in with:
Saturday evening meal (£8 per adult or child)
Saturday/Sunday breakfasts (£3 - £4 per adult for the weekend, children free)

Any special dietary requirements, favourite breakfast foods, or general comments?

Thanks!